Carmen and Carmen

In Carmen and Carmen award winning filmmaker and multimedia artist Wu Tsang presents a film installation, along with a program of films, talks and performances, that together explore the myth of Carmen in conversation with her collaborators.

Carmen and Carmen is a critical symposium about the myth of Carmen, once immortalized by George Bizet’s iconic 19th century opera. It considers what is at stake in the figure of Carmen: both for opera and the very idea of European modernity in its cultural, social and territorial sense. Why is Carmen’s story so enduring, and why are we continually drawn to its retelling?

Racial stereotypes and misogyny abound in this modern tale of a seductive flamenca* who corrupts an innocent young soldier. The story is set in Seville, Spain, however its origins are French; based on the novella written by Prosper Mérimée and famously adapted by Bizet. Carmen always invites questions about the desires of her creators. Sex and death are at the heart of this story, and in many ways Carmen can be read as a projection of the capitalist, colonial and patriarchal systems that construct and destroy her freedom. At the same time, Bizet’s opera remains a beloved 19th century pop anthem, endlessly sampled, critiqued, disavowed, and revived through countless adaptations. Finally, the symposium explores how forms such as flamenco and cinema have found the myth especially fruitful to construct their own modes of representation. For this reason, the presence of Carmen in the cinema will be explored, thinking about what ideas can be drawn about the genre itself from its various adaptations.

Tsang’s ongoing research project, which has thus far taken the form of a live opera (with Moved by the Motion), presented last summer by the Holland Festival at the Theater Carré, and now a film installation, La gran mentira de la muerte view at De Balie.

This symposium was conceived with Enrique Fuenteblanca as part of an ongoing dialog with artists, musicians, and thinkers based in Seville, as well as with the creators of her opera, which premiered at the Schauspielhaus Zürich in June 2024.

Wu Tsang (1982) is a filmmaker and performance artist. Her work has been presented at museums, biennials, and film festivals internationally. Last summer, Wu Tsang’s opera adaptation of Carmen (in collaboration with Moved by the Motion) was presented at the Holland Festival.

Wu Tsang is one of the most interesting artists of her generation. Whether as a filmmaker, visual artist, or theatre director, Wu Tsang is drawn to the untold and marginalized stories that lie beneath the mainstream. With Carmen, she once again delves into a beloved classic and elevates it to surprising new height.

Beatrix Ruf, director Hartwig Art Foundation

This programme is a partner project of Hartwig Art Foundation.

*Flamenca is a provisional term chosen by the artists, to stand in for the outdated French bohemian, or racialized gypsy, reclaimed as gitana or Romani, however none of these terms are adequate to embody the mercurial character Carmen. Therefore we call upon the fluid artform of flamenco, understood as a way of designating certain ways of life and cultural classes closely linked to what the myth represents.